Saturday, June 14, 2008

No particularly fancy breads on the table in the last few days. I took another stab at the Poilane-inspired miche from Local Breads, and again it was kind of a flop. In an attempt to make long-rising bread happen on a school night (never the best idea), I set a series of alarms and napped as the wet and sticky dough sped through its rises. This plan worked well enough until around 2am, when the 570 degree oven I had turned on burned a little flour on the baking stone and caused Libby to wake up and turn the oven off. When I came into the kitchen a half hour later and threw the bread in, I only noticed the lack of preheating too late. I turned it right back up again, but the oven spring was more or less negligible. It tastes ok, but it just isn't anything special.

In an effort to console myself, I went back to the quick and easy last night, with Semolina Raisin Sandwich Bread. This one is quick and infallible and makes good toast, sandwich, and bread pudding bread. No glory, but fast gratification. Here it is toasted with mozzarella and mushrooms.